The elderly mother of an unarmed IRA Volunteer shot dead by the British
Army almost 40 years ago is to sue Britain’s military authorities.

Mary Cleary’s son Peter was the first person to be killed by the British
Army’s ‘elite’ SAS during the conflict.

From Belleeks in south Armagh, the 25 year-old was due to be married
just weeks after he was shot yards from the border near Forkhill in
April 1976. He had been visiting a house owned by the relative of his
girlfriend near the border when he was held at gunpoint by an SAS unit.

The SAS patrol fired a shot in the air before going inside and lining up
the people in the house. Although he gave a false name, it is believed
that Cleary was recognised by the undercover unit.

He was stripped, searched and taken to an outhouse before being executed
by the soldiers.

Although the British army claimed he was shot three times when he
attempted to overpower his guard, his mother Mary, who is in her
eighties, believes he was simply shot dead.

Eyewitnesses in the house at the time were later to claim that notorious
SAS captain Robert Nairac was one of the soldiers in the unit.

The Cleary family lawyer Kevin Winters said the circumstances around the
killing of their loved one still remains raw because they have fought
for years to find out the truth surrounding his death.

He added that in the past compensation for people killed under similar
circumstances were “derisory” with no award being made in some cases.

Mr Winters revealed the Clearly family have called on the Six County
Attorney General John Larkin to order a new inquest into his death.

“It’s all part of the campaign for justice for Peter because there was
never a proper inquest,” he said.

The lawyer said the civil case is being taken by the family “to offset
some of the injustice” surrounding the case.

‘STATE SPONSORED MURDER’

The family of another IRA Volunteer shot dead by loyalists are also to
sue the British Ministry of Defence as well as the chief of the PSNI
police.

Alan Lundy was gunned down by loyalists in collusion with Crown forces
at the home of Sinn Fein assembly member Alex Maskey in May 1993.

The father-of five is believed to have been shot by a four-man UDA/UFF
death squad belonging to Johnny Adair’s Shankill Road-based ‘C Company’
as he carried out work to improve security at his friend’s west Belfast
home.

The weapons used to kill Mr Lundy came from a consignment smuggled into
Ireland from South Africa by British agent Brian Nelson, who was a UDA
intelligence officer.

Mr Lundy’s family has previously asked the Historical Enquiries Team and
Police Ombudsman to investigate the murder.

His son Daniel said his family has “no doubt” there was Crown force
collusion in the murder.

“It’s in black and white,” he said. “On the day there was a police and
army presence on the street. He was stopped on the day and ‘P checked’.
They left the street at 5.45pm and at 6.05pm my daddy was lying dead.

“The UFF killed him but the cops had a big role in it. It was not a
couple of rogue cops, it was state-sponsored collusion.”